


The Avatar and The Firelord

by Sayian_Princess_Vegenta



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e10-11 The Day of Black Sun, Fate & Destiny, The Avatar - Freeform, The Firelord
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:02:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,112
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27604616
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sayian_Princess_Vegenta/pseuds/Sayian_Princess_Vegenta
Summary: What if Aang met with Firelord Ozai instead of Zuko during the Invasion?
Comments: 7
Kudos: 16





	The Avatar and The Firelord

_We’ll handle Azula, go find the Firelord!_

It's what Sokka told him, they’d handle her. They’d be ok. _The Firebenders can’t bend right now. Toph is the best Earthbender in the world, she won't let anything happen to them._

 _They are going to be ok, You got this. They are going to be ok, You got this Aang._ It was the only thought going in the young Avatar’s mind as he ran through the underground tunnels in search of one man. 

He opened door after door desperately searching for him, the one who would end it all; The Firelord. Aang started to hyperventilate. _What if i can’t find him, what if i make a mistake. What if Azula hurts them, What if they can’t win?_

The day was already hectic, the Firenation already knew of the invasion plans. Everything they worked so hard to do was falling right before his eyes. He didn’t have a plan, he knew that he had to face the firelord but, what then? What was he going to do?! What did the world expect him to do? He had an idea, an inkling of what they wanted from him. He tried very hard to put that thought out of his mind. No way, there was no way his friends wanted him to do that.

Still, his friends might not, but what about the rest of the world? Of course they wouldn’t know Air Nomadic customs. But even if they didn’t he was a kid, only 12; they couldn’t want a child to do that. 

Aang ran past a door, barely noticeable and slightly hidden. He knew that this was where the Firelord was hiding, he felt it in his bones. 

Aang walked up to the door and took a deep breath “Firelord Ozai, I’m ready to face you.” _I’m not ready, I’m not ready at all. Please don’t be behind this door._

Aang slowly opened the door; uninterested in his last grandiose attempt in blowing the door off its hinges. When he opened the door he was face to face with the golden eyes of the man before him.

Ozai was alone in the room, a steaming cup of tea in front of him.

“Well, this is unexpected.” Ozai’s voice rang in Aang’s ears; it was much different than what he imagined a lot warmer and softer.

“Firelord Ozai, your reign of Tierney is over.” Aang tried to put bass in his voice to cover the fear he had, his palms were sweaty, he was slightly shaking and he had an overwhelming urge to throw up. “I am the Avatar, and I will stop you and restore balance to the world.”

Aang wasn’t sure what was scarier, the fact that Ozai simply lifted a brow in his direction or that Aang actually found him alone in the first place, where were the guards?

The two stared at each other, and Aang was internally freaking out. _Why hasn’t he said anything, why isn’t he moving, am i supposed to do something, why hasn’t he moved!!_

Aang tried again “I am here to defeat you, and nothing will stop me from completing my Destiny!” He pointed his Staff at Ozai.

“Destiny?” 

Aang felt chills go up his back, he didn’t expect the Firelord to actually talk. Nor did he expect him to chuckle.

“You sound like my brother.” He poured another cup of tea and put it on the table closest to Aang. “Sit down, Young Avatar. It’s obvious you have no real intentions of fighting me right now.”

“Yes i do-”

“If you did, you would have done so already. You’re waiting for me to make the first move. I’m sorry to disappoint but that’s not going to happen.”

“Then what are you going to do?” His arm relaxed from his fighting stance eyeing the cup of tea, afraid that somehow it would attack him.

Ozai lifted an eyebrow and smiled “I’m already doing it” He took a sip of his tea.

“I-I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t. You’re a child playing soldier. You aren’t the fighting type, are you Avatar?”

Aang said nothing, all he did lower his head.

“You say that it is your destiny to fight me. To restore balance to the world. But that doesn’t sound like your words. It sounds like the voices of other people. How many times have you been told that young Avatar?”

“Too many times.” Aang sighed and sat on the floor, his staff over his legs. “Everywhere i go, someone tells me that. ‘Aang you have to kill the Firelord, Aang you have to kill the Firelord’ But i don’t know what that means! i don’t know what to do! I have to fight you...but i don’t want to do what everyone tells me i have to.”

“You don’t want to kill me.”

Aang shook his head.

“It's not that you don’t want to. You can’t.”

Aang looked up surprised at what he said but silently agreeing with him. “Everything I've learned, everything that I have been raised on, all my beliefs. Fall on deaf ears when it comes to you. They keep saying I have to, they keep saying it's my destiny!”

"Aang, destiny is a fickle thing. One I don't believe should be taken at face value. It was My brother's destiny to take Ba sing se, it was my son's to capture you. My destiny is to fight you and bring order, yours is to defeat me and bring balance. Yet somehow neither of those feel like a correct answer to handle the state of the world now does it?"

"but everyone is counting on me to face you!" Aang pleaded to the man

"And face me you have, are we not sitting together?" Ozai took another sip of his tea

Aang was silent. 

"Everyone is counting on you, a small child. Your voice has yet to crack but for some reason everyone's destiny is in your hands. Funny isn't' it? You mean to tell me out of all the water tribes and out of all earth kingdoms, the men and women who live there, decided to send a child to fight their problems? Not only a child, but a group of children to fight their problems."

Aang and Ozai were silent as the words echoed off the walls.

"But it is destiny. We can't control it, we can’t fight against it. Can we young Avatar?"

Aang looked away from The Firelord. 

"Let me ask you one question. If you defeat me, and restore balance and all that good stuff. When the celebrations die down and the Euphoria of winning a war has gone away, what then? What is your plan?"

"I-I don't know, I never thought about it, no one has ever told me what happens next. I just want to Help people, At least I think i do?" aang stammered 

"Help people? Help them how? You see winning a war might seem easy and plausible to some. but it's what comes after that is the problem. Right now, you are hope. You are destiny itself. but after everything is said and done, what are you?"

“Just some kid” Aang answered

“Just some kid. Do you have any plans for the Firenation after you destroy it of its leadership or do you plan to watch it fall to anarchy? The Firenation has many innocent lives, people who aren’t involved in the war in anyway. What about the water tribes? The South is barely holding on as we speak, and the North has isolated itself so much it can’t even rejoin normal society. The Earth Kingdom is so split up they don’t have any idea of who’s in charge at all.”

Aang listened intently to the words he spoke, and he found himself agreeing with the Firelord.

“Then what’s your plan Firelord Ozai? How do you want this war to end?”

Ozai rubbed his long beard, and for a moment Aang saw Iroh in his place.

“The Firenation might be winning the war, but that doesn't mean there are no casualties on our side. My grandfather Sozin, coming to the end of his life grew to regret his actions against the Air Nomads. His last letter involved him wishing he had listened to his friend Roku. My father Azulon was a very paranoid and vicious type of man. He allowed for no mistakes or errors. Especially when it came to his children. He wanted to purge the world of the other nations. And my brother Iroh followed that mindset until my nephew Lu-ten died. You ask me what I want for the world? I want to push the world further into the future. I want to rebuild, and industrialize it. I don’t just want four separate nations but one nation united. And if it's under my control then so be it. I have made many mistakes in my life, ones that I regret and ones that I don't. Adding one more to the list won't hurt me. You can’t expect me to just end the war, declare that it's over--”

“But why! If you could do that I wouldn't have to kill you, and we can find a solution!” Aang jumped up with hope in his eyes.

“The world as you know it has profited and survived off of this war. Many jobs and Cultures from around the world have changed to try and benefit from the war. War creates money, War creates jobs and opportunities.To end the war you have to know what you're going to substitute it with.”

“You know I never thought I would be taught this from you.” Aang’s voice was soft in the room.

Ozai titled his head and Aang took that as a sign to continue.

“I’ve talked to Kings, and Chiefs, and many leaders in my travels and none of them told me any of this. None of them even said what they were going to do after the war, they just kept telling me to end it. But here I am sitting with you talking about the future, and how important it is and what plans could be made, While my friends are outside fighting to the death, and I feel so guilty and confused!” Aang shouted “What am i supposed to do!”

“Young Avatar, even if you did slay me, you and your friends are surrounded in the Firenation capital. No matter how long it takes, the eclipses will be over, and they will get their bending back. Unless you plan to take my head and show everyone, they will not know the war is over.”

Aang turned green from the thought of holding Ozai’s head.

“Those soldiers out there are fighting for the same reasons you are. Not for me, not for you. But for their families and their friends and themselves. Even if you do kill me, my children shall take my place. Even with my son being a traitor and leaving me today, either he or my daughter will be crowned the new Firelord. You would have to kill All. Over. Again.”

Aang held his head in his hands.

“Could you do that? Kill again? Have not one but two or maybe three lives taken by your hands?”

“What am I supposed to do, Firelord Ozai? How am I supposed to bring balance to the world?”

Ozai sipped his Tea again. 

“I can’t answer that for you.”

Aang looked defeated.

“From what I see, you are troubled, not by your destiny. But your need to appease everyone around you. From the moment you came in, you have never once spoken with your own voice but the voices of those you're desperate to please. Yet those same voices don’t value you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Avatar Aang, What do you want? Don’t tell me what everyone has conditioned you to say.”

“What do i want? I want to have fun. I want to explore the world with my friends! I just want to be a kid. Everyone around me wants to act like Adults. It's like they don’t know how to be a kid anymore.”

“Should they?”

Aang looked at him puzzled

“Should they know how to be children? They’ve lived in nothing but war, all they know is war. Should they really waste their time being a kid when they might die at anything time?”

“But-”

“This is why no one has talked to you about what happens next. This mentality that you have. How can they talk to you about real world problems when you are still in the past? No one had a real childhood since The Airbenders fell.”

Aang bit his lip in anger.

“Then what am i supposed to do?!” Aang jumped up wind roaring around him “Go against everything the monks taught me? What do you want from me? Do you actually want me to fight you? To try and kill you?!”

“Yes.” Ozai kept his eyes focused on Aang ever as the wind made his eyes water.

“Why?! Why do you want that? Don’t you care about your safety! Don’t you care about your life!”  
Aang was crying, if the very man himself told him to kill him then what choice did he have.

Ozai looked at the young Avatar, the more he cried the harder the winds whipped around them. Even Ozai’s tea set was thrown and smashed against the wall.

“No one cares what i think! No one cares how I feel! I never wanted to be the Avatar in the first place! I don’t want to kill you! I don’t want to kill anybody!” Aang yelled and screamed, the winds were so strong he couldn’t even see the very man in front of him anymore.

“Then find another way.”

The winds stopped. Ozai didn’t scream the sentence, didn’t raise his voice, but the words echoed in Aang’s mind.

“What?”

“Find another way. Whether we like it or not, our destinies are entwined together. Find a way to change the ending.”

“But i’m supposed to fight you. I don’t know how to change the ending.” Aang wiped his face with his sleeves.

“I never said change it now. But if you insist on fighting…”

Aang watched as Ozai Stood up and unsheathed a pair of dual swords, they reminded him of Zuko.

“Wait! I thought you said you weren’t going to fight.” Aang pointed his staff at him.

“I said i wasn’t going to make the first move, and i'm not. Fight me Avatar.”

“But-But i don’t want to fight you, isn’t that what this whole conversation was about?!” Aang backed away in fear.

“Young Avatar You are too weak, you allow your personal beliefs to cloud your judgement. The world is more than black and white.” Ozai walked towards Aang.

Aang walked backwards. “Stay back!”

Ozai kept walking the tips of his sword scraping the floor.

“I’m serious! Stop!” Aang froze with fear the closer Ozai got to him.

“Are you really gonna let the enemy get this close to you?”

“But you're not my enemy!” Aang said in one final attempt of pleading.

“But you are my enemy.” Ozai's voice wasn’t warm or calm anymore. His eyes terrified Aang.

Aang threw Ozai against the wall with a blast of wind only to realize his mistake when Ozai smiled.

Aang had fought plenty of non-benders with swords, he fought Jet and even fought Zuko. Nothing prepared him for the fight that he had with Ozai. The man was quick and accurate, he thought that Ozai wouldn’t be as skilled without his bending, he was very wrong. 

“Hit me Avatar.” Ozai demaded

Aang's style of fighting was dodging and evading, but Aang couldn’t avoid this fight, and Ozai knew that.

Aang tried to hit him, the only things at his disposal were Air and earth. So he threw as many rocks as possible at the Firelord without caving the ceiling in.

“Please don’t make me do this!” Aang looked at the man.

Ozai aimed both of his swords at Aang in an attack only to be blocked by his staff.

Ozai pushed hard down on the staff and Aang struggled to lift the man.

“You favor your left side more. It creates a big opening on your right.” Ozai stated calmly.

Aang readjusted himself and Ozai backed away.

“Wait I am confused.” Aang lowered his arms

Ozai attacked again and Aang jumped out the way, His ankle was sliced a little.

“Jumping and hopping everywhere only works in more open spaces. Your legs are your weak points, if someone takes out your legs then you become nothing more than an injured Mooselion”

Again Aang headed the words of the Firelord and stood his ground. Aang realized that Ozai wasn’t truly trying to fight him, but helping him get the need to fight out his system. 

Back and forth they attacked or defended, Everytime Aang went to the defensive Ozai would criticize him pushing him to fight harder. Aang learned fast, even if Ozai wasn’t truly fighting he didn’t hold his attacks back and Aang was cut plenty of times. They kept going until Ozai Stopped mid-swing and closed his eyes.

“The eclipse is almost over. Our time here is done.” Ozai rested his fighting stance. “The next time we meet only one of us will walk away.” 

“What am i supposed to say to them?” Aang looked at The man before him.

“You’re the Avatar, You’ll figure something out.” Ozai walked back to his seat. He started to breathe slowly and Aang saw smoke exit the man's nose.

“I still can’t fight you for real. Nor will I ever kill you. But I appreciate your guidance Firelord Ozai.” Aang Bowed in respect to the man. “I will find another way.”

Ozai watched as the Young Avatar ran away and out the door. He chuckled to himself.

“It would have been more than easy to kill him.”

“Why didn’t you father?” Azula stood by a secret door off to the side.

“There's no honor in killing such a naive child. He has no true path, no one to guide him. It's a shame really. He reminds me of your brother.”

“Zuzu is gone now, There’s reports of a missing Hot-air balloon. And Mai is not happy with his Letter.”

“Hmph He never changes does he?” Ozai shook his head at the thought of his son.

What are we going to do about the Avatar? Azula picked at her nails

“When the time comes, he’ll make his move. It is his destiny after all.” Ozai stood up and left with Azula out the room.

**Author's Note:**

> This lovely person did fanart for me, and im so honored. https://stardust948.tumblr.com/post/636342162344296448/the-avatar-and-the-firelord-where-aang-meets-the


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